A HOODED fuel thief who struck repeatedly stole number plates off nearby cars to disguise his vehicles, a court heard.

Imran Ahmed, 25, went on a £600 ‘sophisticated’ spree over three months, filling up family cars at service stations.

He then drove off and discarded the plates, which he had fixed to his vehicles using elastic bands. The defendant claimed he did it because a friend had told him it was easy, Burnley magistrates were told.

Ahmed, who was caught after one of the cars he used was seized, had been captured on CCTV, but had been wearing a hat or had his hood up.

The defendant, currently living in Colne Road, Burnley, admitted three counts of making off without payment, between last October 18 and November 22 and asked for 12 offences, seven of them taking licence plates, and five allegations of making off without payment, to be considered. He had no previous convictions.

Jobless Ahmed was given a 12-month community order with 200 hours unpaid work and must pay £260 compensation. Tom Snape, prosecuting, said Ahmed would take the licence plates just before filling up with fuel. He used an elastic band to put them on his own or family cars and would then discard them after helping himself to fuel.

Mr Snape said the offences came to the attention of the police who began to make inquiries about a black Vauxhall Astra which had been to Kitchen’s garage.

An officer located the vehicle and seized it. The defendant attended the police station voluntarily to recover the car and was interviewed.

Ahmed said he was responsible for the making off without payments and had used the Astra and a Toyota Avensis.

Mr Snape said: “He was asked why he had done it and couldn’t really provide any explanation for that. He admitted what he had done was stupid and said he would try and pay back the money that was owed.”

Laura Heywood, for Ahmed, told the hearing: “A friend had told him it was an easy thing to do and he decided to do it, without fully thinking of the consequences of what might happen.”

She added the defendant had expressed some remorse. Some of the offences would not have been detected by the police. Ahmed was now a carer for his grandfather.